In our business we’re used to taking the long view. A commercial forest like this one can take over 50 years to come to maturity from time of first planting – and it’s entirely dependent on nature delivering the goods. We take the same long-term view when it comes to growing our business: constantly investing… Read more »
Category: timber treatment
Winter’s on its way
As you can see, we have some fine-looking wagons in the yard this morning – and you can tell winter is coming as both are taking firewood along with sawn products to our customers. The wagons are under cover in the shed which holds the kiln where the logs are dried. The shorter the days,… Read more »
How we make the most of every log we process
Safety first for visitors to the mill
We’re always pleased to welcome visitors to the Mill by arrangement: there’s much to see and we believe that once people have been here they’ll have a much better understanding of our operation. That being said, this is a working sawmill and the safety of visitors as they move around the yard is paramount. To… Read more »
It’s always good to see old timers
Anyone who knows Ransfords knows that many of the folk who work here are passionate about the restoration, preservation and showing of vintage vehicles of any kind. So, it was a real treat to welcome this old timer to our yard for a brief stay between shows. It’s a steam powered Sentinel made in Shrewsbury at… Read more »
Nothing beats the sheer versatility of timber
At top left are acoustic fencing panels headed for south Wales. They’ll reduce the impact of noise created by traffic and commercial activity and are effective precisely because they are made of timber. Because its surface appears to be so hard we tend to think of timber as a completely solid material. In fact, the… Read more »
A woven fence to confuse the bats at Mellington Hall
At Mellington Hall, the hotel and caravan park owned by the family that own Ransfords, there is a sizeable and very healthy population of bats. It’s not surprising: Mellington Hall stands in over 200 acres of park and farmland a mile from the nearest road so is a perfect environment for insect seeking bats. In… Read more »
It’s been a season to remember for Ludlow Cricket Club
Ransfords sponsor a number of local sporting and voluntary organisations among them (through our sister company Woodlink Forest Products) Ludlow Cricket Club whose First Team became Shropshire County Cricket League Premier League Champions for only the second time in the club’s history, exactly 25 years after their previous triumph in 1997. Following a hugely competitive… Read more »
TWELVE STEPS TO SUSTAINABILITY #11
Some of the logs coming into our yard that can’t be milled into useful timber products can be used for firewood and this equipment automates the process. The dried logs will either be delivered to homes in our part of Shropshire and mid-Wales or picked up from the weighbridge in the mill yard. Seasoned and… Read more »
During half term it’s all hands to the pump…
…or perhaps we should say all hands to the log grab. Just visible in the cab is our Operations Director Alistair who, thanks to the half term holiday, was the only qualified one around to unload a trailer full of logs when they arrived at the mill. The irregular shape and size of the logs… Read more »
When the wind blows
This video sent to us by our partners Euroforest shows one of our woodlands in Devon which was badly hit with severe windblown damage – over half of it was flattened during Storm Arwin in November last year. Some products from this site have been marketed locally and the log material has come to our… Read more »
Kallfass get straight to the point
The makers of our new automatic post pointing line have written an extensive study of the project on their website here. The new Kallfass line is now fully operational and has made a huge difference both in terms of the speed and accuracy of the process itself and in virtually eliminating manual handling of these very… Read more »
The virtuous circle of commercial forestry
These pictures are taken at one of our forestry holdings in the south west of England – an area whose warm and damp climate produces some of the best home-grown timber. The top picture shows logs being collected at the roadside to be transported to the mill here in Bishop’s Castle. The bottom one shows… Read more »
Lights, camera, action!
The video of our operation here at Ransfords which appears elsewhere on this website is now a few years old and so doesn’t give an accurate picture of recent investments. To put that right we’re in the throes of making a new video to chart the journey of the log from forest to finished product…. Read more »
Lights, camera, action!
The video of our operation here at Ransfords which appears elsewhere on this website is now a few years old and so doesn’t give an accurate picture of recent investments. To put that right we’re in the throes of making a new video to chart the journey of the log from forest to finished product…. Read more »
Grab a look at this
Keeping a sawmill like ours running at its peak involves a series of very big investments (see earlier posts about the Solar Panels, the Timber Treatment Centre, The Feather Edge line, the engineering workshop, the new post pointing and incising line etc etc) and even more investments which are rather more modest. This new grab… Read more »
Without sharp saws we couldn’t cut timber.
We’ve just installed these two computer-controlled saw sharpening machines in our new engineering centre. Without machines like these it would simply not be possible to turn huge round logs into useful and mostly rectangular pieces of timber. In fact, each of the blades used in the mill will work only one shift before being removed… Read more »
Without sharp saws we couldn’t cut timber.
We’ve just installed these two computer-controlled saw sharpening machines in our new engineering centre. Without machines like these it would simply not be possible to turn huge round logs into useful and mostly rectangular pieces of timber. In fact, each of the blades used in the mill will work only one shift before being removed… Read more »
Just great to see our investment working
These pictures show the new incising and post pointing line in full swing. In the one above, the posts have been through the inciser and are on their way to being precision pointed. The picture below gives an idea of the consistency with which the new line works: a pack of perfectly pointed posts uniformly… Read more »
Real progress now being made on our new line
The new line to handle and sort larger items in our product range such as gate posts and sleepers is coming on well. While the mill was closed last week for our summer shut down some of the team kept working . This picture shows, at top, the the CNC cross cut saw which will… Read more »